


Dream about that casual touch

by Vlindervin



Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan, The Heroes of Olympus - Rick Riordan
Genre: Declarations of feelings, First Kisses, Fluff, M/M, So is Will, Some angst, but idc, but they work it out, enjoy anyway, honestly i feel like there are 1545487 fics like this one out there, nico is insecure as hell
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-15
Updated: 2018-03-15
Packaged: 2019-03-31 19:12:09
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,615
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13981515
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Vlindervin/pseuds/Vlindervin
Summary: ‘You… kissed him?’‘Yes.’‘You kissed him and he shadow travelled away?’***Will kisses Nico and then Nico freaks out about it.





	Dream about that casual touch

It’s not like Will meant for this to happen. It’s not like he woke up this morning thinking: _You know what I’ll do today? I’m going to have breakfast and then make Nico hate me forever._ No, it’s not like he planned it in between ‘first shift at the infirmary’ and ‘take siblings to archery practice’. No, of course not. But with the way Jason’s glaring at him, you’d think Will had made it his life mission to scare Nico away.

Will has never found Jason particularly intimidating or scary, but the look in his eyes right now, makes Will understand why he’s such a big deal at Camp Jupiter.

On one hand, Will believes he deserves Jason’s anger; he screwed up. But on the other hand, it’s really not necessary because Will is pissed enough at himself to feel absolutely miserable without Jason making it worse. But then again, he does deserve it.

‘What did you do?’, Jason asks him.

Okay, maybe Will did not think this through. ‘Nothing’, he answers, obviously lying.

Jason sends him an annoyed look. ‘So you mean to tell me Nico just shadow travelled away for nothing? I thought you wanted my help.’

Yeah, Will wouldn’t have believed himself either. Jason leans against his cabin’s door frame. ‘It’s kind of personal?’, Will tries.

Jason just stares at him, And again, Will can’t even be annoyed by that because he would probably react the same way. He’s supposed to be on his own team, dammit.

‘Fine!’, he runs a hand through his hair and starts blushing before he even says the words. ‘I kissed him and then he _floop_ ’, he makes a vague hand gesture, ‘disappeared.’

Jason squints his eyes at that and maybe Will is getting a little scared now. He’s never been good in combat.

‘You… kissed him?’

‘Yes.’

‘You kissed him and he shadow travelled away?’

‘I know. I should’ve asked for permission first. I know, I know. But it’s just that he looked so cute and he also didn’t pull back when I came closer, not that that’s an excuse or anything, but I -- ‘

Jason holds up his hands and stops Will mid-ramble.’That doesn’t make any sense.’

Will is a little taken aback by that. He’d expected violent threats or to be chased by a bunch of teenagers considering how protective Nico’s friends are of him, not this. ‘What? That I kissed him? Believe me, it makes sense. I always want to kiss him. Have you seen that guy? He’s freakin’ adorable.’

That makes Jason smile. ‘No, not that. I don’t understand why he shadow travelled away. Listen, he’d kill me if he knew I was telling you this, but the guy’s been crushing on you since forever. He should’ve been ecstatic.’

Will blinks dumbly at that, not knowing how to react to that information. Nico’s liked him since forever? Jason’s right, that doesn’t make any sense. ‘I kinda thought he liked me too, otherwise I wouldn’t’ve tried anything, but apparently we were both wrong.’

‘No, I’m not wrong.’

‘Did Nico tell you this?’

‘Well, not in that many words, but he didn’t have to. He’s really not subtle about it’, Jason laughs. ‘So what’s the plan?’

‘The plan? I don’t know! That’s why I came here. You’re his best friend, I thought maybe you’d know where he is.’

‘Pretty sure you know him as well as I do, dude. If not better, but sure. He’s probably at Camp Jupiter. I was gonna Iris message Reyna today, anyway, I’ll check with her to be sure.’

Will exhales a sigh of relief. ‘Thanks, Jason.’

‘No problem, Solace. I know you mean well.’ Will nods and turns to leave for the infirmary, but stops when Jason continues .’And I wouldn’t worry too much. He wouldn’t just disappear again, he’ll be back. Give him a couple hours, you know how he is. I really don’t think I’m wrong about him liking you.’

Will nods gratefully once more and then he’s off.

***

Not for the first time, Will is grateful for the infirmary. Being busy and tending to patients doesn’t allow him much time to freak out about what happened. He’s still a lot more distracted than usual, but at least he’s not fretting or running up and down his cabin like he’d been doing before going to see Jason.

Although it keeps him somewhat distracted, he still can’t get Nico out of his head. And not in the lovestruck, dreamy way he normally thinks of him. He can’t even enjoy how nice Nico’s lips felt against his without feeling incredibly guilty and sad. Why couldn’t he just have _asked_. The one time he does something impulsive instead of calculated and it turns out like this. Honestly, what was he thinking?

He’s starting his sixth self-pitying inner monologue while he fills in some medical form, when a quiet voice behind him says: ‘Will?’

He knows that voice. He knows that voice very well. It’s the voice that makes his heart beat like crazy, the voice that makes his mouth go dry with nerves, the voice that makes his head spin and fill him with a bright kind of happiness.

Will takes a breath and turns around, checking him for any sign of overexertion first, but considering the last time shadow travelling had any negative effects on him was months ago, he doesn’t think it’s likely. Nico’s standing there, hands nervously fidgeting, eyes wide and bright and locked on Will, beautiful as always. Will smiles weakly when he sees him and Nico looks down in response. Fuck, he doesn’t care _what_ Jason thinks, he’s definitely ruined everything.

‘Austin, I’m taking a break! Can you handle it alone for like, thirty minutes?’, Will yells to the back of the infirmary.

Austin’s head appears from around the corner. When he see Nico he rolls his eyes and probably thinking of Will’s nervous rambling all day, says: ‘Sure.’ Then he turns his attention to Nico. ‘He better be smiling when he comes back, ‘cause I can’t take another day of his pouting.’

Nico doesn’t acknowledge him, just silently asks Will to follow him and then he leaves. Will quickly follows to keep up with him. Side by side, they silently walk to wherever Nico is taking them. He’s still not looking at Will, instead his eyes are focused on the ground. This is weird, Will thinks. He is not used to this. Awkward silences haven’t lived between them for months. After the first phase of their friendship, they’ve basically been non-existence. And even before they got this comfortable around each other, it was never awkward. It’s one of the things Will likes best about himself. He’s not an awkward person at all. He knows how to keep a conversation going, knows how to make people feel at ease. Where are his people skills when he desperately needs them?

Over time, Will’s learned how to read Nico pretty well, which wasn’t an easy thing to do. When Nico doesn’t want people to know what he’s thinking or feeling, he can put on the best poker face. Will supposes that’s what you get when you through all the things Nico’s been through. But he also realized that although it may be nearly perfect, it’s not completely foolproof. If you really pay attention, you start noticing things, start seeing signs. You can see how he plays with his skull ring when he’s anxious or nervous, or how he gets eerily calm, even calmer than usual, when he’s angry. How he taps his foot in a soundless beat when he’s happy. How he stands just a little less straight when he’s sad.

But now? Will has no idea. He doesn’t seem mad, which is a relief, but it’s not like he seems particularly happy either. His hands are buried in the pockets of his black hoodie so he can’t see what they’re doing. If anything, Will thinks Nico looks unsure.

Eventually, Nico stops walking in front of a bench near the strawberry fields, finally far enough from the rest of camp so that no one’s in sight. There is no doubt in Will’s mind that that was Nico’s goal.

They both sit down and for a moment the silence if before continues, until Nico opens his mouth and says: ‘Will, I -- ‘ at the same time Will says: ‘I’m sorry.’ Typical.

Nico finally looks at him, his pretty brown eyes asking a question. ‘Why are you sorry?’, he asks.

Will thought that was kind of obvious, but apparently not. ‘Because I kissed you.’

At that, Nico lowers his eyes again and his shoulders droop subtly. Great, now he’s sad. _You’re on a roll today, Will. Really, great job, Solace. Honestly amazing._

‘Do you regret it?’, Nico asks quietly, so faint Will can barely hear him. Luckily, he’s tuned to Nico’s soft voice at this point.

‘Well, I kind of regret not like, asking you first, because clearly that’s not what you wanted. But no,’ he blushes, ‘I don't regret the actual kiss. I’ll let it go, though. I got the message.’

Nico quickly looks up again, his eyebrows scrunched. ‘What message?’

‘Well, obviously you don’t like me like that. You literally shadow travelled away from me. I got the hint, I’m not that oblivious.’

Nico huffs at that and rolls his eyes.’You’re an idiot, Solace. I mean, I guess it’s partly my fault for, you know, disappearing on you, but still. You’re an idiot.’

‘Not that I don’t agree, but what are you trying to say?’

A blush rises on Nico’s cheeks. ‘I like you too, Will’, he murmurs.

Okay, Will was not expecting that. He can’t help but smile, feeling indescribably happy all of a sudden. ‘So Jason _was_ right!’

Nico squints. ‘Wait, you talked to Jason about this? And he _told_ you I liked you?’

‘Yes?’, Will rubs the back of his neck, feeling strangely chastised. ‘But only because I was freaking out and he’s your best friends so I thought -- I don’t know.’ He shrugs.

Nico’s eyes soften at that and he mumbles ‘You’re my best friend’ under his breath, but before Will can comment on that he continues. ‘I guess I can’t blame you for that. Though, Jason and I are going to have _words_ later. But this’, he waves his hand around, ‘this right here, how I reacted earlier is _exactly_ why I shadow travelled.’

‘So, what? You shadow travelled because you… shadow travelled? I’m sorry, but that doesn’t make any sense, Nico.’

‘Well, not when you put it like that, no.’ Will wants to roll his eyes, but honestly he’s just happy to be back to the way they were before.

‘It’s just that I have no idea how to do this whole boyfriend thing, okay? I don’t know how to talk about my feelings so when you kissed me, I freaked out. And then I shadow travelled because I was freaking out, which only proves my point of me not knowing what the hell it is I’m doing.’

‘Well, here’s a crazy thought. Maybe next time, you can talk to me and we can figure it out together, hm?’

Nico rolls his eyes at Will’s teasing tone, but doesn’t react otherwise so Will adds; ‘Why are you so nervous? It’s just me.’

Nico huffs, his cheeks warming under Will’s tender gaze. ‘That’s kind of the thing. It _is_ you and I really don’t want to mess it up.’

‘But why would you mess things up?’, Will asks, confused. ‘You didn’t even let me kiss you, how could you possibly have messed things up already?’

‘I can’t be who you expect me to be’, Nico softly says, toying with his ring.

‘What? Nico, I don’t expect you to be anyone but yourself. I don’t --’

‘I can’t be like all the other couples at camp, okay? I’m not comfortable with like, I don’t know, kissing you in front of everyone or sitting on your lap. I’m not going to start calling you pet names or anything. And some days, I need to be left alone no matter how much I like you. I don’t know how to deal with my feelings like a normal person. I don’t know how to be a boy in a relationship with another boy. Hell, I don’t even know what any relationship is like in this time period. I’m just -- I don’t _know_ how to be what you want, Will. You deserve someone who does.’

Will does not know what to say to this. He wasn’t prepared for this to happen. ‘Maybe you should let me decide what I want and what I don’t want, okay?’

He turns his gaze on Nico and softly takes his hand in his. When Nico doesn’t protest, he links their fingers presses a kiss to the back of it. ‘Nico, listen to me. I know all this. I know you and I knew that when I kissed you. I’m not expecting you to drastically change your personality. I want to be with _you_ , okay? So who cares if you don’t know what you’re doing? You think I do? We’ll figure it out together. All I want is for you to _talk_ to me next time.’

‘You really don’t mind?’

‘That you want to take it slow? Or that you’re not comfortable with PDA? Of course not. We don’t even have to act any differently in front of people than we do now. Save the other stuff for when we’re alone. And we don’t even have to do _that_ if you don’t want to.’

Nico blinks, his long lashes kissing his cheeks and then locks eyes with Will. ‘Why are you so understanding?’

‘Because I really, really like you and because it’s really not that big a deal. I just want to be with you, I don’t care how it happens.’

Nico nods seriously and exhales a breath of relief. ‘Thank you.’

‘No need to thank me, Sunshine.’

Nico rolls his eye at the nickname, but can’t help the little smile taking over his features. He moves a little closer to Will on the bench and squeezes the hand in his. They’re little things, but Will’s chest fills with a warmth the sun can’t give him.

‘So’, Will says, ‘you think I could kiss you now? Without having you disappear on me again? But only if you want, of course.’

Nico holds his eyes intensely for a moment, before nodding and smiling. Will comes closer and closer, until their noses are brushing and he can feel the movement of Nico’s lashes on his own cheek and then Nico locks their lips together.

Nico’s lips are a little dry and chafed, but incredibly soft at the same time. He has one hand on Will’s cheek. It’s so much better than what he’d imagined it would be like and so much better than it was before now that Nico is actually staying put instead of just vanishing all of a sudden.

When they break the kiss, Will can’t but let out a content sigh. Nico is smiling bigger than Will has probably ever seen him smile before. His cheeks are tinted red and his eyes are bright with joy. Will is sure he looks the exact same.

Before he can do it himself, Nico pulls Will’s mouth back to his and kisses him again and again and again, clearly less self-conscious than he was just minutes before.

They don’t appear back at camp until it’s almost entirely dark. When Jason sees them walk back together, he wiggles his eyebrows. Nico glares at him, but Will is way too happy to be bothered by it.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! Comments keep me alive.
> 
> Title is from Feelings by Hayley Kiyoko which very much feels like a Will Solace song to me.
> 
> Hope you have a good day, or more likely night.  
> Love,  
> Jasmine


End file.
